New here - massive CC debt!

**lorraineb** · 02-28-2014, 07:42 PM

Welcome. You have made the first step by acknowledging that something needs to be done. There is a lot of information in the forums and be sure to use us other members if you have questions or need to bounce ideas off of someone. Most of us have been in your shoes to some degree at some point, so you're among friend. Feel free to share your budget and you should get a lot of replies on areas that people think you could do better at.

**snafu** · 02-28-2014, 08:23 PM

frugaredhead, good on for for making the decision to do the work to pay off CC debt. Does husband also want to pay down debt? If you are willing to share details of how many CCs, interest rate, balances we may be able to offer suggestions for you to consider. Wishing you well.

**mholl95** · 03-02-2014, 03:53 PM

Good for you, frugalredhead. If your credit cards have the highest rates when compared to your other debt, then smart to tackle them first. Otherwise, it would take 2 lifetimes to pay them off making minimum payments...lol

Cheers.
Michael

**Retired To Win** · 03-11-2014, 09:06 AM

As MrMoneyMustache would say, with cc debt like that you should be running around like your hair was on fire. Seriously, his blog would be a tremendous motivator for someone in your situation.

Good luck!

**frugalredhead** · 03-12-2014, 06:27 PM

Thanks for the welcome!

It's so easy to not run around with your hair on fire when you aren't have problems paying your bills (albeit minimums). But then when you add it all up, it's a complete shock. I'm not sure how it got away from us, but it did, and my husband and I are focused on paying it off. My 6 year old is even gathering up toys that he and his brother don't play with anymore for us to sell on a local moms' facebook group (somehow he negotiated commission on whatever I sell...LOL)

My husband needs a little more motivation, as he's a bit impulsive, but I'm working on him

**bjl584** · 03-13-2014, 03:43 AM

Congrats on taking the first step to get rid of this debt.

Would you be willing to post your budget up listing all monthly incomes and expenses? There are a lot of smart people here. They may be able to help you or give you some ideas or strategies to get your credit card debt paid off even faster.

**frugalredhead** · 03-13-2014, 07:12 PM

Our budget

Well my husband and I don't have a written budget per se, and we don't have joint checking. He pays the mortgage, car payments, and most of the fixed bills. That takes just about all of his salary. I pay our kids daycare, my own student loans, a few little miscellaneous bills, groceries, and all the rest of my income plus that from my second job goes towards our credit cards.

The one thing that I would like to cut that my husband isn't really on board with is the cable... but he is a tv addict

There are a lot of other things that we can cut, like eating out, to give him that little pleasure.

I've been selling a ton of the kids old clothes and toys and have made hundreds of dollars to put towards our debt. I have a career in healthcare where I am able to get a 2nd job, and I did. All of that money goes towards the credit cards. We had a vacation booked for this past February and we cancelled it. Our hometown has a lot of great free things to do on the weekends, and we are taking advantage of all of those. We used to take the kids out for lunch (easily $40 for the 4 of us) and then spend $30 on mini golf and go-kart rides, but now we go to parks, down to the river, and pack picnic lunches and the whole day is free.

We have relatively new vehicles, and a pop-up camper, but getting rid of either vehicle or the camper would requires us to lay out thousands of dollars to get out of the loan. And honestly, I think owning the camper probably saves us money, because we spend a lot of time camping that we would otherwise spend doing more expensive things!

Anyway, I have been reading the forums and am highly motivated, and we will conquer this debt!

**danthecashbackman** · 03-15-2014, 04:56 AM

Originally posted by frugalredhead View Post

Anyway, I have been reading the forums and am highly motivated, and we will conquer this debt!

You are on your way to achieving what your goal is. If it was me, I would go further to declare the debt as the first priority for a certain period of time and put ALL the guns that might work against reducing it, on alert. Anything counts, nothing is too little... Then when it is accomplished there is no bigger reward than the confidence that a battle of such magnitude was won by a team/family work. Then the sky is the limit for any member of the family who could contribute to achieve reducing and eliminating this huge (negative - big CC)debt.

**Weird Tolkienish Figure** · 03-25-2014, 12:23 PM

Originally posted by frugalredhead View Post

Just need someone to keep holding me accountable

Married mom of 2 young kids who seriously abused credit cards (us, not the kids, haha). Hubby and I always feeling like we "deserved" this and that and bought whatever we wanted. Now, somehow, we have $90,000 in CC debt (yes, you read that right). We never have trouble making minimum payments, and have credit scores in the 700s, but I have finally come to my senses. I got a 2nd job, and if we stay true to my strict budget, will have all CC debt paid off in 4 years! I'm not even worried about cars, student loan, and mortgage at this point... those are the least of my worries! I'll tackle those when the credit cards are gone and I feel filthy rich because of the money I'm no longer paying towards credit cards!

That is a lot of debt. You should be worried, IMO.

Here's a good tool:

Generic loan calculator: http://www.globalrph.com/gen_loan.htm

If you want to pay back those CC's in 10 years, you will have to pay $900 dollars a month, assuming 5% interest (and CC interest can be higher). 5 year would be $1698.41 a month.

Now, I don't care how much you make, that is a lot of dough.

Even if you paid them back over 20 years, you would have to make $593 a month. Every month for the next 20 years.

None of this is meant to discourage you, but you should be realistic about this.

**frugalredhead** · 03-25-2014, 05:51 PM

I am putting about $1800 a month towards the credit cards and am looking at 4 years to have them paid off. I am being realistic about this, I have done all the spreadsheets, the budget, and have it all worked out. I make the conscious choice every day to cut my spending and not buy things that I want but don't need. I am helping my husband do the same. I AM worried about it, or else I wouldn't be here - I would wait until I am making late payments, and have the collection agencies calling me, and am worried about having my electricity turned off. I want my money working for me, not paying all this interest to somebody else, so I am committed to paying it all off!

**Weird Tolkienish Figure** · 03-26-2014, 05:00 AM

Originally posted by frugalredhead View Post

I am putting about $1800 a month towards the credit cards and am looking at 4 years to have them paid off. I am being realistic about this, I have done all the spreadsheets, the budget, and have it all worked out. I make the conscious choice every day to cut my spending and not buy things that I want but don't need. I am helping my husband do the same. I AM worried about it, or else I wouldn't be here - I would wait until I am making late payments, and have the collection agencies calling me, and am worried about having my electricity turned off. I want my money working for me, not paying all this interest to somebody else, so I am committed to paying it all off!

Yes I'm sorry, your initial post sounded cavalier to me, sounds like you're very clear about what needs to be done. If you accomplish this you'll be a role model to everyone who have gotten into trouble with this. You should be proud that you're taking this head-on. Good luck!

New here - massive CC debt!